Stay tuned 91.9 KCSB-FM (or stream online HERE) from Friday, May 13th, through Thursday, May 19th, as we air a week of special programming celebrating the late-great David Bowie and his role as a pioneering artist and cultural figure.

During our Sound + Vision Series: A David Bowie Radio + Film Festival, KCSB has scheduled one time-slot a day to explore various topics that reflect on Bowie’s life and fifty-year career — and we’ll also host two evenings of Bowie movies — FREE!

On Monday, May 16th, at 9pm, in the I.V. Theater, KCSB-FM and Magic Lantern Films co-present Nicolas Roeg’s psychedelic science-fiction tale The Man Who Fell to Earth (UK: 1976), based on a 1963 novel by Walter Tevis.

On Thursday, May 19th, join us for Starman Under the Stars: A Bowie Double-Feature, outdoors at the UCen Lawn overlooking the UCSB Lagoon. The lineup includes Jim Henson’s Labyrinth (US/UK: 1986), at 8pm, followed at 10pm by D.A. Pennebaker’s documentary Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (UK: 1973), which captured Bowie’s final rock concert as his most famous extraterrestrial character.

For more information about our radio miniseries (including the program schedule and themes) and the films, see below!

David Bowie in Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976). Courtesy Rialto Pictures/StudioCanal. (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Throughout the week of Friday, May 13th through Thursday, May, 19th, new and seasoned KCSB DJs will:

explore themes of gender identity and sexuality inspired by Bowie’s various personae share

Accompanying these discussions will be music from David Bowie (born David Robert Jones), as well as from his collaborators, his influences, and those he has influenced (including their covers of his work).

In The Man Who Fell to Earth, David Bowie plays Thomas Jerome Newton, a humanoid alien on Earth to seek water for his dying planet. Starting a high tech company to raise billions needed to build a return spacecraft, and meets Mary-Lou (Candy Clark), who falls for him. He does not count on the greed and ruthlessness of business here on Earth, however.

The New Yorker calls The Man Who Fell to Earth (which also stars Rip Torn and Buck Henry), “Dazzling! Cool and Confounding!” A “Masterpiece,” says New York Magazine.

In Labyrinth, teenage Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) summons goblins from her favorite book, The Labyrinth, to steal her half-brother Toby. When they actually do, she must solve the maze of the Goblin King (Bowie) before the baby himself becomes a goblin. Produced by George Lucas, Labyrinth has elaborate special-effects conceived by Henson Associates (the team behind The Muppets), while its screenplay is credited to Terry Jones of Monty Python fame.

Framed by behind-the-scenes footage, the Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars rockumentary captures Bowie’s final electrifying performance in concert as his alien persona Ziggy Stardust, in London. Director D.A. Pennebaker is also well known for his other rock ’n’ roll documentaries Don’t Look Back (with Bob Dylan) and Monterey Pop.